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First records of leucism in Leontocebus nigricollis graellsi (Primates:

Callitrichidae)

Article · December 2022

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 ISSN 2697-3286

Mam m alia æ q ua to r i a l i s
The Ecuadorian Journal of Mammalogy

Number 4 December 2022

ASOCIACIÓN ECUATORIANA DE MASTOZOOLOGÍA

 Mammalia æquatorialis 2022(4): 35–37 ISSN 2697-3286
AEM The Ecuadorian Journal of Mammalogy

Submitted: 2022-12-01 Accepted: 2022-12-14 Published: 2022-12-30

Short communication

First records of leucism in Leontocebus nigricollis

graellsi (Primates: Callitrichidae)
Primeros reportes de leucismo en Leontocebus nigricollis
graellsi (Primates: Callitrichidae)

Diego G. Tirira*, 1, 2, 3 and Diego Prado-Lita4

1
Universidad Yachay Tech, San Miguel de Urcuquí, Imbabura, Ecuador
2
Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Quito, Ecuador.
3
Fundación Mamíferos y Conservación, Capelo, Rumiñahui, Ecuador.
4
Waita Amazon Lodge, Quito, Ecuador.

* Corresponding author: dtirira@yachaytech.edu.ec

Leucism is an atypical condition of recessive
genetic origin that occurs as a consequence of
mutations that affect the generation, distribu-
tion, and aggregation of the melanin pigment
in the skin of many vertebrates and is particu-
larly noticeable in mammals (Lamoreux et al.,
2010). Although this condition has been fre-
quently mentioned in various orders of mam-
mals (Tirira & Arbeláez, 2020), reports in pri-
mates are extremely rare (Aximoff et al., 2020;
Barros-Diaz et al., 2022; Ramos-Luna et al.,
2022), even though they comprise a conspic-
uous group that is frequently sighted (Mitter-
meier et al., 2013).
The few known reports of leucism in pri-
mates have been documented mostly in large
species, particularly in the genus Alouatta (Ax-
imoff & Vaz, 2016; Barros-Diaz et al., 2022;
López-Platas et al., 2021), but also in Ateles
(Guzmán Caro et al., 2018); in small primates,
there are only a few reports for the genus Calli-
thrix (Aximoff et al., 2020; do Vale et al., 2018).
Therefore, in this short communication, we
present the first reports of leucism in the genus
Leontocebus.
In November of 2021, we observed two
black-mantled tamarins (Leontocebus nigri-
collis graellsi) with leucism in the Reserva de
Producción Faunística Cuyabeno, Sucumbíos
Province, Ecuadorian Amazon. We sighted
the first individual (Figure 1) on the Novem-
ber 21, 2022, at Waita Amazon Lodge, located
along the middle of the Cuyabeno River course
(00°12’17” S, 75°55’31” W, 205 m a.s.l.); the
specimen was observed while it was feeding in
a tree together with 12 other individuals. The
second record occurred on November 26, 2022,
at the mouth of the Aguas Negras river in Cuy-
abeno (00°04’55” S, 76°09’09” W, 220 m a.s.l.),
29 km NW in a straight line from the previous

This is an open access article under the terms of the

Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
36 Mammalia æquatorialis No. 4
Figure 1. Black-mantled Tamarin (Leontocebus ni-
gricollis graellsi) with leucism in the Cuyabeno
Wildlife Reserve. Photograph by D. Prado-Lita.
record; the primate with leucism (not photo-
graphed) was moving through the forest along
with other five individuals.
Leontocebus nigricollis graellsi is a spe-
cies with a blackish brown coloration (Tirira,
2017); therefore, the two individuals with leu-
cism that we report here were clearly observed
by presenting white areas on their bellies.
L. n. graellsi is one of the three species of tam-
arins that inhabit Ecuador; it is present in the
northeastern Amazon, north of the Napo River
(Tirira, 2017).
According to the scientific literature, leu-
cism in monkeys may be caused by two pro-
cesses: inbreeding because of isolated popu-
lations (Aximoff et al., 2020; Aximoff & Vaz,
2016; do Vale et al., 2018; Guzmán Caro et
al., 2018; López-Platas et al., 2021), environ-
mental pressure caused by pollution, or the
interaction of both (Barros-Diaz et al., 2022),
conditions that we believe do not correspond
to the records presented here. L. n. graellsi is
a species frequently sighted in the Cuyabeno
Reserve, which means that its population is
large. In addition, this protected area is one
of the largest in Ecuador (5,901 km2) (MAE,
2014) and its relative distance from areas of
contamination suggests that the area remains
largely pristine.
It has also been indicated that individuals
with leucism have a negative survival out-
look (Parsons & Bonderup-Nielsen, 1995;
Rodrigues et al., 1999), especially in species
with diurnal habits, since they can be sighted
by their predators with greater ease (Geiger &
Pacheco, 2014). These arguments indicate the
need to continue reporting observed cases of
leucism so that we can understand the origin of
this genetic anomaly and the consequences for
the individuals with leucism.
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